|
|
||
Colonial Forge High School teacher is Stafford's top educator Date published: 2/23/2005 By KELLY HANNON The fish tanks in Helen Torosian's classroom bubble and hum with life. Pipefish slink through reeds of grass. Crabs scuttle across pebbly floors. And a pregnant male seahorse bobs in a solitary tank. Torosian, 58, is responsible for overseeing this veritable aquarium as head of Colonial Forge High School's marine science program. During her 35 years in Stafford County schools, she's taken students on fishing expeditions to find aquatic specimens. She's planned trips to the Bahamas where students got to snorkel and greet creatures up close. She's up till all hours grading papers and projects. And in the classroom, she does her best to unlock the mysteries of the watery deep. "The ocean is like the last frontierWe know more about space than our own oceans," Torosian said, who also teaches biology. Recently, Torosian was named Stafford County's Teacher of the Year. She was chosen from among 26 schoolwide winners. She'll advance to compete for Virginia Teacher of the Year. "It's wonderful. I'm so shocked. I was just thrilled to be Teacher of the Year here in my school," she said. It's rare for a high school teacher in a core academic subject to be chosen as Teacher of the Year, said Andrea Bengier, assistant superintendent for instruction in Stafford schools. That's because elementary teachers usually have a wider pool of pictures to draw from when they compile a portfolio, which is used to select a county winner, she said. But Torosian has pictures galore. Her walls are covered with snapshots of students. As sponsor of the Student Council Association, she spends lots of time with them after school. She helps officers plan and execute Homecoming every year, along with a slew of other events. Fellow biology teacher Cindy Trant has worked with Torosian for 28 years and said she "never runs out of energy." "She never complains about anything she's asked to do. She's just a real team playerShe does things because they need to be done, whether she's enjoying it or not," Trant said. Torosian's classroom is as colorful as a coral reef. Gelatinous mobiles of sea creatures dangle from the ceiling. A former student painted a seahorse mural.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
||||||||||||
